...unless, of course, you live in the insignificantly tiny portion of the world that is not Japan, for which the story was remade into a lone pilot working for the UPEO, trying to keep the peace between General Resource and Neuwork. Bandai Namco Entertainment currently has no plans to deliver the original Electrosphere to the outside world, but the release of a remake of Ace Combat 2 for N3DS gives us a faint glimmer of hope. Don't hold your breath, though. In the meantime, a fan-driven ProjectNemo has released an unofficial English translation patch.

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Despite the game having never been officially translated into English, it was the seminal installment of the series that codified its setting and most of the associated gameplay tropes (the honor that usually goes to Ace Combat 04 in the West). It has been said that ever since 1999, the AC series has been slowly working its way back up to Electrosphere (all following Strangereal games were technically prequels to it), but never quite achieving the same level of expansiveness, plot intricacy, and gameplay finesse.

Tropes found in the game:

Ace Custom: Both Cynthia's and Rena's planes have a customized paintjob. Justified in Rena's case, as she is an Ill Girl and requires special equipment just to fly.

The Aesthetics of Technology: Compared to the sleeker and generally more exotic planes made by Neucom, General Resource's air forces are comprised of futuristic variants of conventional aircraft as well as planes based on real life experimental and prototype craft.

A.I. Is a Crapshoot: In the international version of this game, the Big Bad is an AI created by Neuwork. It bypassed their security protocols, escaped, and resurfaced by giving both Neuwork and its competitor General Resource false informations, provoking the two into wars with the ultimate goal of ruling after the power vacuum caused. After both Neuwork and General Resource reconcile, the AI amassed its own force called the Ouroboros.

Averted with Nemo, i.e. You. You're created to destroy Dision, regardless of what faction you join or the amount of collateral damage you cause in the process.

Airborne Aircraft Carrier: The first in the franchise to have this, the UI-4053 Sphyrna. A futuristic blimp, it is surprisingly very dangerous, with you requiring to destroy its multiple engines before moving on to the main one. While it doesn't carry many airplanes due to its size, it carries the ones that are important: The island-sinking X-49 Night Raven and Dision's personal Ace Custom aircraft, the UI-4054 Aurora.

A.K.A.-47: Justified. You're using fictional futuristic variants of real planes, which are modded and upgraded to have a BrainComputer Interface called the COFFIN system. Considering that you're actually an AI simulating all your battles, this is necessary.

Amazing Technicolor Battlefield: Your Final Boss fight against Dision - well, one of them - takes place within the Electrosphere itself. Specifically, both of you cut off visual input to the outside world and fight in a three-dimensional grid space within an infinite-length cybertunnel. There is a catch however: the real world outside the visual overload still exists and the altimeter reflects that; go to zero and you will "crash".

All There in the Manual: Not one, but two: Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere - Mission and World View, which did not come with the game, and the Photosphere, which did. The kicker? The Photosphere is already fully-translated into English, with a Surprisingly Good English level of translation.

Ambiguously Evil: Dision. Second mission he's featured, and he's trying to get you to join his company faction. No one knows if he's aligned fully with GR, aiding UPEO's chessmaster Park, or is all about himself. In the end, it's neither; he only wants revenge for his deceased girlfriend Yoko.

Neucom's R-series planes are most often named after Latin genuses of aquatic creatures. Case in point are R-101/102/103 Delphinus (Dolphin), R-211 Orcinus (Orca/Killer Whale), R-201 Asterozoa (starfish), etc.

Made even more blatant with the R-311 Remora parasite fighter and its host aircraft, the R-531 Mobura. The Remora is famous for it being "attached" to other, larger fishes (such as sharks), but the Mobura, a misspelling of Mobula, is a genus of manta rays. The aircraft looks nearly exactly the same as the animal it is named after.

The Atoner: Poor, poor Cynthia. After her sister got offed by the organization she defected to, she performs a HeelFace Turn from Ouroboros and singlehandedly (with you, of course) reversed the entire mess she has gotten into. It's even referred to in the mission's name: Counterrevolution.

Awesome, but Impractical: MIRV missiles. Firing two of them creates eight missiles a la Macross Missile Massacre. However, their tracking is absolutely piss-poor and it doesn't seem to hit anything, moving or not, ground-level or otherwise.

The Blank: Jets that use the COFFIN system typically have no outwardly-visible cockpit. It's not as disturbing as a faceless human, for obvious reasons, but if you're used to the regular modern-day jets of the other games, noticing it for the first time here can still be pretty jarring.

Boring, but Practical: Spread Bombs in the second slot are insanely powerful against ground targets and destroy many of them when clustered together.

Brain Uploading: Sublimation is the process of uploading a human consciousness into the Electrosphere. Known successes include Abyssal Dision and Cynthia Fitzgerald.

More than that is Dision himself. Not only did he try engineering you to join GR, he's also the head of Ouroboros, assisting Park with his scheme to usurp control of UPEO, offing his own company's CEO, and basically grooming Rena to be the perfect Tyke-Bomb.

The grand winner is Simon, as revealed in the game's secret ending. The events of the entire game were basically him trying to figure out a plan to kill Dision. He is happy to find out his victory is guaranteed, as all five possible paths end with Dision's death.

Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Rena Hirose seems to go off on her own whenever she is flying with you and sends you various, increasingly-odd video messages. Apparently Dision has been messing with her mind.

The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard: Named pilots that happen to be the enemy simply don't have targeting reticules, meaning they cannot be locked onto, let alone shot down. They can however, shoot at you.

Continuity Cameo: Before being really popular in Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War, but after appearing in Ace Combat 2, Kei Nagase makes an appearance as a member of Ouroboros in a news broadcast. You need to take a particular route (specifically, Neucom/Fiona route) to view it though.

Creator Provincialism: Or rather, localization provincialism. Specifically, the cover art of the Japanese version of the game features the futuristic in-game equivalent Sukhoi Flanker model flying upright, as in the Cobra Maneuver pose. The US/EU version features instead the futuristic in-game equivalent of the F-22 Raptor instead. Retroactively funny since in-game, the Su-37 Super Flanker possesses much superior stats and is labeled "Advanced Fighter" while the F-22C Raptor II has more balanced but lower stats, and is labeled "Multirole" instead.

Dead All Along: Abyssal Dision. Shortly before her death, Yoko Inoue copied Human!Dision's consciousness into the Electrosphere, creating the self-aware AI!Dision, the first ever human to be Sublimated. Before either of them realized it, however, they were killed by a bomb and their laboratory was destroyed along with their research.

Diabolus ex Machina: An odd variation. During one of the Ouroboros routes Rena starts complaining that someone's inside her head, and Dision immediately blames the player character. This isn't helped when Keith suddenly appears and attacks Dision. It's not at all clear what's actually going on although the Omega Ending reveals that you're entire existence revolves around killing Dision.

Disproportionate Retribution: AI!Dision's true aim is to exact revenge on the feuding corporations over the death of Yoko Inoue, even if it means killing multitudes and dragging the survivors with him into the Electrosphere. According to translations of the Secret Ending Simon hates Dision for stealing Yoko from him - so much that he wants to erase Dision's AI-copy, and runs multiple simulations of a possible Corporate War just to make sure it happens.

UPEO: A Paper Tiger "peacekeeping" organization which has a Mole in Charge for its leader that is corrupting the organization and turning it into part of a terrorist group.

General Resource: A Mega-Corp that will censor every form of media and even kill their own employees to prevent the world of knowing more than what they want to.

Neucom: Another Mega-Corp that will do everything For Science!! no matter how dangerous or amoral that kind of science is.

Ouroboros: They are terrorists. 'Nuff said.

Faction-Specific Endings: The game has three faction endings (UPEO, General Resource, and Neucom) plus two Ouroboros endings, which are both a mix of faction ending and a Lone Wolf ending. Of course, there's an Omega Ending for seeing all of them.

Fantastic Rank System: Cynthia's introduction video has her state that she is Neucom Emergency Unit's "Chief Consulting Pilot". It probablymakes sense considering the Mega-Corp nature of the setting, but still...

The Federation: By 2040, much of the Usean continent is united. But the government is so ineffectual and weak that corporations have all but supplanted any semblance of authority.

Fictional Disability: Rena Hirose suffers from the "Silverstone disease", meaning that her skins lacks any protection from UV sunlight radiation whatsoever. As a result, the only way she has to be outside during daytime is inside either the fully-enclosed cockpit of her plane or in a suit that fully encloses her to shield her from the sun.

Fricking Laser Beams: Both the X-49 Night Raven and Neucom's counterparts, the XR-900 Geopelia, have this for their "Primary Weapon" slot. Oddly, the "Laser Wave" weapon that high-end Neucom fighters has behave more like a beam machinegun than a laser weapon per se.

Gameplay Ally Immortality: Unless your orders are specifically to defend them, your allies will not take so much as a scratch even though three superfighters are wailing at it with cannons, missiles, and what-have-you.

Giant Space Flea from Nowhere: The eight Geopelias that just show up out of nowhere as the Final Boss of the General Resource route after both Dision and the Night Raven have already been defeated, seemingly with no purpose but to provide another hint at the true nature of the Player Character. Even in-story, the ending video has a reporter wonder where these new planes came from, since neither Neucom, nor the remains of Ouroboros claimed responsibility (though they are definitely of Neucom make). Amusingly, the English version's plot actually explains they were programmed to go berserk if theBig Badwas defeated.

There's a special case where you fly an RF-12A2note futurized A-12 Oxcart into the stratosphere via rocket engine and shoot down bombers.

In the Japanese version on one path you can play as one of the bombers you have to shoot down in that mission! It's a really unique experience compared to the above, because the planes handle completely differently. Props to the dev team on doing that for just one mission.

Ill Girl: Rena Hirose, who suffers from a disease where her skin's pigmentation does not protect her body from UV rays. She became a General Resource pilot to view the exterior.

Just Plane Wrong: While some of Neucom's R-Series planes are plausible (R-201's double-body design has been used since World War II), some planes feature some very questionable design choices, such as R-102/103's protrusion and R-211's second cockpit and nose as well as its forward-swept tailplanes.

Laser-Guided Tyke-Bomb: Rena, specifically to pilot the incredibly overpowered X-49 Night Raven. While Real!Dision did not intend to make her into one, AI!Disiondoes.

Lensman Arms Race: Both General Resource and Neucom develop (or, in the case of GR, upgrade) their fleet to better fight one another. The zenith of this is in Neucom's race to copy General Resource's ace-in-the-hole: The X-49 Night Raven. They succeeded in making eight of them.

Meaningful Name: Nemo means "Nameless". Consider that in the end he's actually an AI.

More Than Mind Control: Dision's ruthless memory manipulation of Rena made her absolutely willing to follow Dision through his visions of revolution.

After the assault on UPEO's HQ, however, YOU start to mess with Rena's mind, causing her to Freak Out.

My Rule-Fu Is Stronger Than Yours: Of a larger scale. Not too long after the start of the game, both UPEO and General Resource have given Neucom quite a good beating, sinking a good portion of their naval fleet from joining Megafloat. This is because Neucom violated a crucial no-fly zone restriction. Just then though, a recently-signed truce means UPEO can no longer assist General Resource against Neucom since technically, they surrendered. After which, General Resource breaks the truce and attacks Neucom's base preemptively. Since this time, General Resource is the aggressor, UPEO has to come to Neucom's aid since they are a peacekeeping organization. Yes, the whole thing is as absurd as it sounds, and characters within the game lampshade this ruthlessly.

The Neutral Zone: Subverted. While Expo City is technically UPEO's HQ in many endings, one branch has it hosting Neucom forces. The very first mission has you shooting down Neucom flights above it, suggesting that it changes allegiances quite a lot.

Non-Standard Game Over: This game has quite a few of them. Some honourable mentions include Zero Gravity, which shows your R-352 getting toasted by one of the satellite lasers if you run out of time; Guardian Angel, which shows the R-808 going down and crashing (with Cynthia's complaining included in the original version of the game); and Liquidation, which shows the UI-4053 getting blown out of the sky by a submarine cruise missile.

Omega Ending: You have to clear all five regular endings to watch the epilogue.

One Nation Under Copyright: By the time Electrosphere takes place, the most prominent and powerful corporations have become become sovereign states in all but name, with General Resource and Neucom fielding their own military forces.

Optional Stealth: The mission "Utopian Dreams" ("Plumber" in the export version) advises you to stay under the radar net as you proceed to the enemy base. It doesn't matter if you are spotted or not, it only determines when you end up fighting more enemy planes. "Pawns in the Game" (or "ECM") is similar, where you're advised to bomb the facilities under cover of a jamming aircraft and flying up to a specific altitude when it's not doing its thing, but the only difference whether you get detected or not is whether your on-board computer says "mission accomplished" or just "mission over" when you're done.

Paper Tiger: UPEO itself, to the point that the mission where you're given the first opportunity to defect is actually named "Paper Tiger". It is so woefully under-equipped that it has to receive "gifts" of military hardware from both sides just to stay competent, helpfully illustrated by the suffix "U" after the jets' names (eg, F-16XFU is basically General Resource's own F-16XF with a UPEO green paintjob, ditto R-101U from Neucom). The kicker? The donated equipments are as bog-standard bottom-shelf jets as they come. A hacked video feed even lampshades this ruthlessly.

There are several "news" outlets. The take on these propaganda vehicles is a bit more realistic than most; the networks' bias in favor of their sponsors is apparent, but isn't over the top. GBS (General Resource's TV news network) in particular is a censored news source and makes few bones about it.

Literally, the first three video broadcasts you tune into before your first mission is both the GBS and NVS' narrated commercials about their own company.

In the aptly-named mission Scylla and Charybdis, you are to protect Fiona and Chairman Clarkson from GR attacks. Later on, Park order you to shoot it down on charges of treason. Shooting them down means killing your heretofore loyal friend, killing your UPEO reinforcement signals treachery to your organization. Take too long though, and Rena will do the job for you.

A lesser example is in GR's route, where you must shoot down Neucom strato-transports carrying mini-fighters. Halfway through, Keith sends a distress signal as apparently, an enemy ace has him on the ropes. The mission that proceeds afterwards depends on whether you continue your mission as ordered or destroy the ace that plagued Keith and let a few of your targets slip through.

Scenery Porn: One mission has you flying in a canyon while trailing a plane with absolutely no dogfighting.

Sequential Boss: The final battles against Rena and Dision in one of the endings.

Space Battle: The only example in the entire series has you controlling Neucom's R-352 Sepia manned starfighter, killing orbital satellites. The controls of a spacecraft in zero-G feel entirely different than in atmosphere, throwing players out of the loop and forcing them to unlearn everything and adapt in three minutes or else. All this for one mission.

Spanner in the Works: You. Specifically, Dision's plan to groom Rena to pilot the massively overpowered X-49 Night Raven. After repeated contacts with you, Rena becomes more determined to find her real memories. This proves crucial later on as she betrays Dision.

The Starscream: While Chairman Clarkson is truly committed to pacifying the two Companies, Park has...ambitions of his own.

Many General Resource planes are actually born from real-life prototypes of otherwise abandoned or shelved projects. Discounting the F-15 S/MTD which appears all over the series, the RF-12A2 is not actually a variant of the SR-71, but of an earlier prototype interceptor called the A-12 Oxcart. This is the same case with the F/A-32C Erne being the finalized product of the Boeing X-32, and the XFA-36A Game derived from the otherwise proof-of-concept plane McDonnell Douglas X-36. Others include the F-16XF Gyrfalcon, based on the F-16 AFTI, and F-16XA Sakerfalcon, based on the F-16XL Cranked Arrow concept.

An ingame example is the massively overpowered X-49 Night Raven, which is the whole reason for the GR-Neucom conflict.

Taking You with Me: If the player sides with Ouroboros, Keith attacks you, Dision and Rena. After he takes enough damage, he gets his plane stuck between the wings of Rena's Night Raven; when you shoot him down, Rena goes down too.

The Ending Changes Everything: The Omega Ending, revealed by completing all the routes. Simon contacts you and explains that you're an AI...and that all the routes you played through were actually a simulation he trapped you in. It turns out that he blames Dision from stealing Yoko from him, and was using you and the simulation to figure out how to erase Dision's AI-copy. Having seen every possible outcome, Simon decides that Dision's death is a Foregone Conclusion (since you do kill him on each route) and releases a fresh copy of you that has not been in the simulation into the real world to make one of the routes reality. He then deletes the simulation and you entirely.

Another character is revealed to be this as well: AI!Dision. Bonus points of him realizing it while the real one is still alive, and him seeing everything through security cameras, since he doesn't exist in the flesh.

Transhuman Treachery: This is the modus operandi and rallying cry for those who have "discarded their flesh", that is, the people who have Sublimated. Subverted with Cynthia, who is truly in it only for the sake of her curiosity, and she becomes devastated when her plans involve sacrificing Fiona.

True Companions: Both Erich and Keith are this to you on their respective routes. Keith even starts to salute you at the end of his video messages if you save him from troubles.

Übermensch: The Dision you meet is actually an electronic AI copy of a flesh-and-blood Dision; this AI wants humanity to progress to an electronic form as he has, all while the Corporate War is heating up and he (it?) plays a part. Ultimately subverted, in that his ultimate goal is not to "advance the human race", but rather of Revenge against the companies who killed his or rather, his flesh-and-blood counterpart's girlfriend, Yoko.

United Nations Is a Superpower: Subverted. The UPEO was established by what's left of the old national governments as a global peacekeeping force meant to police the new corporate order. In practice, it's a Paper Tiger that's woefully underfunded and an unwitting tool for Ouroboros.

Erich is a somewhat unique case. He's your one constant wingman throughout the entirety of the UPEO route. Any other route, he's essentially AWOL. The General Resource route at least allows you to explain that absence by shooting him down.

One of the early turning points in the plot is the defection of Fiona and Chairman Clarkson from UPEO to Neucom, and a player in the UPEO route is allowed to shoot them down (or not do anything to stop Rena from doing so) to remain with UPEO, or rescue the two and defect alongside them. While Fiona plays some role in the plot, direct or otherwise, no matter how things turn out later on if you defect, Clarkson disappears from the plot entirely even if he survives.

Conversely, Cynthia only shows up outside of the Neucom route in the General Resource route in one mission before being shot down or disappearing for the rest of the route.

What the Hell, Hero?: One mission in UPEO's route, after shooting down one of their own allies for suspicions of treason, Erich calls Rena out for it.

Wide-Eyed Idealist: Erich firmly believes in protecting peace with UPEO. He's quite attuned to everything though, and when he has been used as a pawn too far, he flies with you and initiates a two-plane rebellion.

With This Herring: Double subverted. You start with a Eurofighter EF-2000 Typhoon II, a variant of one of the coolest planes of today... however, it's the far future, and by then the Eurofighter is severely outdated; flying it is kinda like nowadays flying a World War II fighter.

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